The feasibility of providing shelters for animals or collapsible playhouses for children has been severely restricted by numerous factors. From the standpoint of the consumer, the design and construction of such a dwelling can be both complicated and expensive. Alternatively, the purchase of a prefabricated kit may be costly, and depending upon its size, transportation of the kit, as by automobile or the like, might be impractical. Further, assembly of kits may be complicated and time-consuming, making such an investment undesirable.
From the standpoint of the supplier, such dwellings are impractical to stock in an assembled state because of the amount of space that they occupy. Even in a collapsed condition, the dwelling might be so large as to complicate storage. For example, the prefabricated shelter disclosed in Donnahue (U.S. Pat. No. 2,751,635), even when knocked down, occupies a large area, though it is of a minimal thickness.
Further, the shelter in Donnahue would require an expansive container which would be bulky and undesirably burdensome.